The Bath County Chargers will take the big stage Saturday afternoon.
Coach Keith Lindsay’s bunch, 19-7 and fresh off the school’s first-ever Region C girls basketball crown, will face off with Region D runner-up Castlewood in a Group A, Division 1 state quarterfinal on Saturday at 3:45 p.m. in the Salem Civic Center.
The game is part of a two-day, eight-game marathon of high school basketball in Salem.
The Lady Chargers will play Saturday’s third game, following a boys Group AA, Division 4 boys match-up between E.C. Glass and Christiansburg.
James River’s boys team, the defending Division 2 state champions, will follow Bath to the floor at 5:30 p.m., against Lee High School.
Five other supersites will host quarterfinal games this weekend – James Madison University, Robinson High School, Virginia Commonwealth University, Virginia High School and the College of William & Mary.
All quarterfinal winners will advance to the Siegel Center at VCU next week for the state final four.
Castlewood, Bath’s Saturday opponent, is 18-10 on the season, and is coming off a Region D championship game loss to last year’s state runner-up J.I. Burton, 77-54.
The Blue Devils, out of the Cumberland District, were seeded fifth in Region D, but upset Ervinton, a team they had lost to three times this season, in the region semifinals to earn their state berth.
Saturday’s Bath-Castlewood survivor will take on the winner of a Friday quarterfinal at JMU between Luray, the Region B champion, and Sussex Central, the Region A runner-up.
That semifinal match-up is Thursday, March 10, at 3 p.m., in Richmond.
The other half of the Division 1 bracket features three teams that are making back-to-back state tournament appearances.
Riverheads, coached by former Covington athletic director Tim Morris, was a final four team a year ago, West Point was a quarterfinalist, while J.I. Burton, lost to Surry County, 61-58, in the state title game.
Riverheads, the Region B runner-up, draws Region A champion West Point in a Saturday game at the Siegel Center, while J.I. Burton will battle Galax, the Region C runner-up, Saturday at Virginia High School in Bristol.
The winner of those two games will play at 11 a.m., on Friday, March 10 in the Siegel Center at VCU.
The Group A, Division 1 championship game will be played on Friday, March 11 at 2 p.m., also at VCU.
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